#SAM KINISON BREAKING THE RULES DVD MOVIE#
Sam was also a big movie buff, a particularly rabid fan of Woody Allen, and rarely partied (contrary to popular assumptions). Apparently, Sam's first love was rock music: He wanted to be a rock star, and comedy was only a route to achieve that goal. Although he repeats a lot of information that he provided in his commentary on the Breaking the Rules DVD (and even repeats himself a few times within this commentary), he has great anecdotes to share in his midwestern drawl. First up is an audio commentary by Sam's brother and manager Bill Kinison (accompanied by a mostly silent Sherri Kinison, Bill's wife). The Family Entertainment Hour DVD offers three fine extras. The audio quality of the "Rare Standup" pieces is merely serviceable. I noticed no rear separation, only crowd noise. The DVD offers a Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation, but the surrounds are essentially inactive. Obviously shot with a handheld video camera by an amateur, the image is wobbly and even drops out abruptly to green at one point, presumably because of a dead camera battery. The image quality of the two "Rare Standup" pieces is poor. However, Sam comes across as larger than life, and when his brother Bill notes on the commentary that "Sam's not feelin' much pain right now, as you can tell by his eyes," you can see exactly what he's talking about. This certainly won't be a disc with which to show off your widescreen TV. More on those in a moment.)Ī fullframe, straight-to-video presentation, Family Entertainment Hour offers fairly sharp video-image quality. (Interestingly, you get more undiluted Kinison comedy in the bonus "Rare Standup" clips than you do in the main feature. But he wouldn't have liked me to say that. Like most Kinison fans, I could have done without Sam's braying attempts at rock. So much for taming down.īetween bookending rock performances, in which Sam screams a ZZ Top tune with an accompanying metal band, we're treated to about 40 minutes of great Sam Kinison comedy. The show opens with Sam dragging two young women in leather thongs to the stage by leashes. His response? Be more outrageous than ever. To do so, he was told to tame down some of his more outrageous humor. At this point in his career, Sam was attempting to gain a foothold in Hollywood. A cute introduction has a kindly representative of the Good Taste in Entertainment foundation speaking of Sam's new gentler, softer brand of comedy. Shot at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles in 1990, the main feature is 48 minutes long. Nevertheless, Sam remains howlingly funny, ranting and raving about rap music, Richard Simmons, bad TV, drunk friends, Jesus, and, as always, women. His timing is sometimes off, and he looks decidedly unhealthy. He's about 5 years older and 80 pounds heavier. Unfortunately, in this follow-up disc, Sam Kinison: Family Entertainment Hour, Sam has let himself go. He looked healthy (if overweight) and was obviously having the time of his life. That Breaking the Rules DVD represents Sam at the pinnacle of his career: Every joke worked, every onstage movement was perfectly choreographed, every facial expression was a riot. An ex-preacher's passion and a genuine gift for storytelling made Sam Kinison one of the great comedians of our time. I remember watching his original HBO standup special (now available on DVD as Sam Kinison: Breaking the Rules) back in 1986 and reacting with bug eyes and out-of-breath laughter to his no-holds-barred rages about religion, sex, and world hunger. "Sam was outrageous, bright and absolutely screamed the truth.I've always had a soft spot for the screaming, irreverent comedy of Sam Kinison. "Sam was one of my all time favorite comics." - Johnny Carson. "Sam was one of our generation's greatest stand-up comics." - Howard Stern. "Sam's voice was the voice of outrage." - Tim Matheson. "Sam's humor was based on truth and pushed the envelope like no other." - Larry King. "Sam was an absolute comic genius." - Rodney Dangerfield. "Sam took no prisoners." - Richard Pryor. "Sam scared the hell out of you.and was the funniest comedian." - Jay Leno. "Sam was the cuddly anti-Christ." - Robin Williams. This comedy special will blow away the Kinison fan, and will be a must-have collectible. Along with being voted onto Comedy Central's All-Time Top 20 Stand-Up Comedians list and VH-1's Top Comedians list, Sam seemed to be in a whole other class by himself. Fans old and new have cause for celebration with the release of Sam Kinison: Breaking All The Rules, HBO Special.